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Aside from ropey power cleans, I can't offer you much expertise on technique of Olympic lifts. Delighted to see you be so intelligent about the whole matter and be dedicated to the technical aspect of things. It's common sense but how often does that get eschewed in favour of ego. Keep it up is all the advice I can offer

Aside from ropey power cleans, I can't offer you much expertise on technique of Olympic lifts. Delighted to see you be so intelligent about the whole matter and be dedicated to the technical aspect of things. It's common sense but how often does that get eschewed in favour of ego. Keep it up is all the advice I can offer

thanks kuyt! i really believe in making every attempt to do things well, not just do them, things I am passionate about, anyway. "if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well," i think is the saying.

alright, this is what the latest template looks like... i know it seems like a lot of changes, but they're really minor and just refinements. The full Snatches and Clean and Jerks are used once confidence in the lifts has been established. As of last night I've established confidence in the Snatch.

Session A
Snatch
Clean and Jerk
Front Squat
Pendlay Rows
Push Press

Session B
Snatch
Clean and Jerk
Overhead Squat
Bench Press
Chins

Once the weight has increased to an estimated 80% or so I will worry about periodizing intensities. until then it's all about getting in the repetitions with light weights, slowly increasing the weight, in order to polish technique.

I'm going to train 2 days on, 1 day off. Doing so, I will have to periodize the Squats, Presses, and Rows to some extent to avoid "overtraining". I'm going to start the weights very light, even on these lifts and increase the weight very little each session until periodizing their intensities becomes necessary, at which point I plan to implement a HH/LL/MM sort of system.

This is all down the road, but what combination of Heavy/Medium/Light seems most advantageous? Should I stay away from training these lifts in the "heavy" range completely? Should I focus on one of these ranges only while my priority is the main lifts? Thanks in advance.

In addition, I've figured out, on paper at least, how I'll work through the Clean and Jerk tonight. Here it is with the Snatch process that worked so well last night.

I think with the push jerk, you cant get as low, so you may not be able to lift as much in the long run. But I think you can do both in competition, its just a lot harder to land deep after a push jerk than it is a split jerk.

__________________
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

"When in doubt, just get really, really strong. It tends to cure most problems in training Ė and life." - Wendler

I think with the push jerk, you cant get as low, so you may not be able to lift as much in the long run. But I think you can do both in competition, its just a lot harder to land deep after a push jerk than it is a split jerk.

Overhead Squat (Snatch Grip)
65 x 5 Ė Lost my balance and after reducing the weight I realized it was because I didnít have a focal point.
55 x 5
55 x 5

Bench Press
135 x 8
135 x 8
135 x 8

Chin-Ups
BW x 5
BW x 5
BW x 3

Jump-Rope between sets of chins.

Notes
This was a fine session, but with some difficulties. First Iíll say that although the majority says the Snatch is the more technical lift of the two Olympic lifts, the Clean and Jerk gives me more trouble. Maybe itís because of the difference in weight used, or the method of pulling, but something makes it more difficult to me.

I was kind of tired by the time I had the full sequence ironed out, so hopefully next time Iíll be able to train the whole lift sooner and fresher.

I decided to learn and train the Split Jerk as opposed to the non-split and Iím glad I did, because it wasnít as difficult as I thought it would be and I think it will allow me to C&J more weight down the road.

All in all, despite having trouble learning the C&J, Iím confident that with many, many repetitions I will begin to perfect the technique. It may sound typical, but I feel sure of the manner of the motions and their intentions; i.e. triple extension, power shrugging, catching. I understand the movement of the body according to the bar is as active as the movement of the bar itself; what should move the bar and when; what is more and less efficient and I think knowing these things is going to make me successful.

All in all, despite having trouble learning the C&J, Iím confident that with many, many repetitions I will begin to perfect the technique. It may sound typical, but I feel sure of the manner of the motions and their intentions; i.e. triple extension, power shrugging, catching. I understand the movement of the body according to the bar is as active as the movement of the bar itself; what should move the bar and when; what is more and less efficient and I think knowing these things is going to make me successful.

Perhaps it's time the forum put together video teaching compilations on each of the lifts so we can learn right along with you.

The snatch for me was always the hardest, but felt most satisfying.

Greta work today Tanker. Will be following along with anticipation to see where this takes you.

After reading further, I'm pretty confident that the problem I'm having with the C&J is because I am not using the same "hip contact" as when I Snatch. I didn't realize it was supposed to be done in the C&J also. (albeit a little lower than hips, actually upper thigh)

I was basically pulling straight from the floor trying to use triple extension (of the ankles, knees, and hips) with zero contact, aside from the bar touching my shins while on the floor.